Students’ perceptions of their learning outcomes in a flipped classroom environment

The flipped classroom model has positive effects on the educational process, and has recently become an alternative to the traditional model. However, additional research is necessary to identify the causes of those improvements and the contexts in which this methodology performs better. In this study, we analyze the perceptions of different students pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Jaén (Spain) regarding flipped learning dynamics and the relationship between those perceptions and perceptions of their learning outcomes. Specifically, we investigate whether students’ acquired competences and attitude, as well as the use of formative assessment have positive effects on student perceptions on results. To accomplish this task, during the first semester of the 2020–2021 and 2021–2022 academic years, we collected the opinions of students via a questionnaire and tested those relationships using PLS. The results indicate that the three variables (acquired competences, attitude, and formative assessment) explain the perceptions of students with respect to achieving better grades, and are key elements of superior learning, that can improve students’ performance. Accordingly, this study provides evidence regarding the positive effects of flipped classroom on the teaching–learning process in higher education and explains the reasons for the resulting improvement in learning outcomes.